GreenMellen

06/02/2026

You don't need a full website overhaul.

You just need 15 minutes to fix some things that are broken.

Pick one of these things to do this week:

→ Check your contact form. Submit a test. Did you actually get the email?
→ Update your footer. If it still says © 2024, that's not a great look.
→ Read your homepage out loud. Does it still describe what your company actually does today?
→ Click through your main navigation on your phone. Does everything work?
→ Google your own business name. What comes up? Is the info accurate?

None of these take more than 15 minutes. All of them make a bigger difference than you'd think.

If you find something broken and don't know how to fix it, that's what we're here for.

05/28/2026

The marketing industry loves a good website launch.

You know what nobody celebrates? The subsequent maintenance that keeps the website working:

- Plugin updates
- Security patches
- Broken forms
- Broken links
- New landing pages

Website maintenance is NOT glamorous.

But here's the thing: a website that isn't maintained is a website that's slowly falling apart.

By the time most businesses notice, the fix is a lot more expensive than the upkeep would have been.

The real work doesn't start at launch. It starts the day after.

05/26/2026

People are not just craving content anymore. They want places to show up and feel connected.

This year, we have seen brands move beyond screens and into real-life moments that feel natural and intentional. Coffee meetups, run clubs, creative pop-ups. These work because the community already exists, and the brand simply becomes part of the experience.

Looking ahead to 2026, the creators who bring the most value will not just build audiences online. They will know how to gather people in person and create moments that feel worth leaving the house for.

Small, hands-on details matter, too. When people get to personalize or create something during an experience, it becomes a memory instead of just an event.

If you are craving more of these conversations, join us in the Brighter Web community. It is a (free!) space for marketers to connect, share ideas, and build something together.

05/21/2026

Mark your calendars: the A Brighter Web Conference is coming back October 1!

Last year we hosted our first-ever conference at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, and the response was better than we'd imagined.

This year, we're doing it again — same great venue, with views of The Battery and the Atlanta skyline.

The lineup includes talks from Joe Koufman, Laura Beth Daws, Jason Blumer, and Sophie Brannon.

We'll cover everything from how traditional search is changing to how AI is reshaping work and society.

Space is limited to 75 attendees. If you're a marketing pro, agency owner, freelancer, or anyone who cares about doing marketing the right way, we'd love to see you there.

05/20/2026

Ever wonder whether your website shows up when someone asks ChatGPT or Google's Gemini a question? 🤔

There's a growing number of tools promising to track that for you, but honestly, most of them are guessing.

Mickey breaks down why those tools fall short AND shares a genuinely useful (and free!) new feature inside Microsoft Clarity that gives you real data straight from an AI source.

It's not a full picture yet, but it's the best data we've seen so far. Check out our latest insights on our blog:

There is a very quickly-growing set of tools that try to show you how often you're showing up in AI-generated answers from places. They're becoming quite popular, but generally speaking they're not very good. There are two reasons for this.

05/19/2026

Hot take: the obsession with "beating the algorithm" is making marketing worse.

When every piece of content is optimized for reach instead of relevance, you end up with a feed full of engagement bait and very little substance.

Here's what we've noticed works better for the B2B service businesses we work with:

→ Writing for the 50 people who actually need to hear it, not the 5,000 who'll scroll past
→ Saying something specific instead of something shareable
→ Having a real human voice, instead of just saying the same thing as everyone else
→ Being consistent over being viral

The algorithm isn't your audience. Your audience is your audience.

Build for them.

05/14/2026

If you’re making a big, sensitive decision, you’re probably not starting with Google. You’re asking people you trust.

That’s the heart of nearbound marketing.

Thanks to Katie Wagner for sharing this important concept with us back at the Brighter Web Conference in October 2025.

05/12/2026

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
It's worth acknowledging that marketing is stressful in ways that don't get talked about.

The constant content treadmill.
The pressure to prove ROI on everything.
The comparison game on social media.
The "always on" expectation.

If you're a solo marketer at a small company, you feel this more than most.
You're doing the work of a team with the budget of one.

We see you.
Protect your energy the way you protect your brand.

05/07/2026

We believe that intention is greater than attention.

That's not just a tagline; it's how we approach every project.

It means we'd rather help you reach the right 50 people than blast a message to 5,000 who don't care.
It means we think conversations matter more than impressions.
It means we're skeptical of any marketing strategy that prioritizes volume over value.

The best marketing we've ever seen has always been unscalable by design.
A personal follow-up. A thoughtful recommendation. A genuine connection at a local event.

That's the kind of marketing we believe in. It's the kind we try to practice every day.

If that sounds like the kind of agency you'd want to work with, we should probably talk.

05/05/2026

Your WordPress site might be overdue for maintenance and you might not even know it.

Here are 5 signs it's time to take a closer look:

1. Your plugins haven't been updated in 3+ months
2. Pages load slower than they used to (and your bounce rate proves it)
3. You're getting spam form submissions regularly
4. Your SSL certificate has lapsed — or you're not sure
5. You can't remember the last time someone checked your site's backup system

Website maintenance isn't exciting.
But a hacked site or a week of downtime?
That's the kind of excitement no one wants.

If any of these sound familiar, it might be time to talk to someone who watches this stuff for a living.